On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court once again voted in favor of a federal law that prohibits any kind of material aid to terrorist organizations outside the country—including humanitarian help and support for more peaceable solutions.

The final tally from Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Iraq hasn’t been announced yet, but that didn’t stop Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his opponent, Ayad Allawi, from claiming victory for their respective teams.

A spate of bombings around Baghdad on Sunday killed 34 people, including at least four Iraqi policemen, three soldiers and several civilians shopping in local markets and preparing to break their fasts to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

A week after Turkey withdrew troops from northern Iraq, claiming its military initiative against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was successfully completed, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani met with Turkish President Abdullah Gul to try to figure out how regional tensions might be contained in the future.

Prior to the U.S. invasion and overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iraq’s three main religious communities—the Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites—were already divided. Although each group responded differently to the American presence in their country, Patrick Cockburn of The Independent argues that the divisions between them only deepened as a result.

Sadly, news of suicide bombings in Iraq has become commonplace, and Tuesday was a particularly bloody day, with four separate attacks in the northwest Yazidi community that claimed at least 200 lives and injured hundreds more.

As if Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki didn’t already have his hands full, now he’s dealing with pressure from Turkey to drive out members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who have hunkered down in northern Iraq—or else Turkish troops will do the honors.

Although Turkey’s foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, is denying the report, other government insiders anonymously confirmed that several thousand Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq on Wednesday to target Kurdish groups that have been attacking Turkey from Iraq, according to the Associated Press.

A raid on a Turkish military camp by Kurdish separatist rebels left at least seven Turks and one rebel dead on Monday and seven more soldiers injured, according to the BBC. The attack took place in the eastern town of Tunceli in the Pulumar region and is being attributed to the controverial Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).